Wiltener Sängerknaben

Kinder für Kinder (Children for children)

Africa – a mysterious continent for us Europeans, marked by many preconceptions. His desire to address these preconceptions and find out the truth led Simon Fitz, who had been a member of the Wilten Boys’ Choir for 17 years, to Kenya to complete his voluntary social year there.Between August 2007 and August 2008, Simon worked as a volunteer at a school in Ugari, a rural region near the city of Migori in Western Kenya. Simon returned to the world of running water, electricity and motorways with lots of new experiences.

The Wilten Boys’ Choir’s Choirmaster, Johannes Stecher, was inspired by Simon’s tales and came up with the idea of organising a benefit concert for a Kenyan secondary school under construction. During Simon’s stay, the Ugari secondary school only consisted of 28 students and an unfinished classroom. The secondary school project was initiated by the villagers, in order to give their children the opportunity to graduate and go to university in Nairobi. As is the case all over the world, education is the only way to escape poverty.

Since then, many years have passed – years, in which the Wilten Boys’ Choir has raised more than 70,000 euros through benefit concerts and a benefit golf tournament. In the meantime, the St. Juliane Ugari Mixed Secondary School now has more than 400 students and keeps on growing!Simon Fitz regularly travels to Kenya to monitor and document the construction progress. Every cent of the donation money goes to Ugari and is exclusively used for expanding the school.In 2016, the Wilten Boys’ Choir raised over 13,000 euros for the children’s charity “SOS-Kinderwelt” in Innsbruck.In 2017, the association supported efforts for emergency relief as part of the annual “Licht ins Dunkel” telethon organised by broadcaster ORF with over 15,000 euros. Furthermore, in 2018, “Kinder für Kinder” organised a benefit concert featuring the Wilten Boys’ Choir and friends, generating funds of over 22,000 euros, which were used to build a boarding school for girls in Maradi/Niger in Africa.

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